Velez said Monday that his officers, with help from the federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms bureau’s gun task force and state Department of Corrections parole unit “worked an operation where we made arrests and continue to get more and more information on the people involved in these shootings.”

Eight people have been arrested, including three who also are suspects in an April 14 arson fire in the 1100 block of Fearnow Avenue.

“We made some arrests but, quite frankly, we’re not done. I can tell you it is still a very active investigation. We’re continuing to do interviews today and are still in the process of developing more information, and we hope to make more arrests, as well,” Velez said Monday.

He declined to release the names of those in custody or circumstances and location of their arrests “because if we release names, it will hone in on a select group of people and then they’ll really scatter.”

Investigators hope to arrest Ramon Gomez, described by Velez as a key suspect in the shootings, before a news conference to explain all of the details and name the suspects. The conference is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Gomez “right now is the only major player we’re still looking for. I’m hoping we’re able to ferret him out this (Monday) evening or (Tuesday),” Velez said.

Although the ATF and DOC team aren’t involved at this point, Velez said he was glad to have their help over the weekend and likely will enlist them again “because they provide a lot of needed manpower when we’re trying to conduct one of these operations.”